Recommended 10 Gbps NIC for Windows 11?

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5mall5nail5

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Hey all - I put together a B650E-E w/ 7950X3D (was a 7950X but B&H had the X3D for sale cheaper than I had paid 2 weeks prior, so...) and I threw a Broadcom BCM57810S which is older in. This machine is going to be a media transcode/stream box - it works fine, but after a few days of uptime this particular BCM57810S shows that the "firmware could not provide resources" in Device Manager and is w/o network until I reboot/mess with it. I have a ton of these NICs but I don't want to keep playing this game and would rather put in something newer and more reliable/supported.

What is the most recommend Windows 11 compatible 10 Gbps (SFP+) NIC these days in the in the $75ish or below territory?

Thanks all!
 
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i386

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I like the mellanox stuff (oem stuff can be cross flashed to vanilla firmware, decent support in windows and linux, a lot of official (and third party) documentation

(newest Connectx, probably out of the 75$ budget >) cx-4 -> cx-3
Connectx-2 nics work in windows 11/server 2022 but at this age I'm afraid that components on it can fail and produce weird behavior
 
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5mall5nail5

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i386 said:
I like the mellanox stuff (oem stuff can be cross flashed to vanilla firmware, decent support in windows and linux, a lot of official (and third party) documentation

(newest Connectx, probably out of the 75$ budget >) cx-4 -> cx-3
Connectx-2 nics work in windows 11/server 2022 but at this age I'm afraid that components on it can fail and produce weird behavior
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Thanks! I do have a few ConnectX-2 but they do not work or show up in Windows 11 unfortunately. Show up in ESXi 6.0, but not Windows 11.

I will give a ConnectX-4 a shot -- I have Finisar optics. Any specific ConnectX-4 PN#?
 
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SnJ9MX

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Jul 18, 2019
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Not related to networking, but why are you using AMD for a transcode/stream box? Is their transcoding stuff better than it was even a year ago? I thought Intel was king with QuickSync. Pretty sure there are a variety of hardware transcoding options cheaper than a 7950X3D that consume far less power.
 
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5mall5nail5

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SnJ9MX said:
Not related to networking, but why are you using AMD for a transcode/stream box? Is their transcoding stuff better than it was even a year ago? I thought Intel was king with QuickSync. Pretty sure there are a variety of hardware transcoding options cheaper than a 7950X3D that consume far less power.
Click to expand...
Sorry - I said transcode, but I meant encode. I have many TBs of media I own and ripped native unencoded that I now want to go back and run through HEVC/265.
 
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blunden

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The Intel X710-DA2 might also be an option. The Dell OEM ones can be found in the $50-60 range on eBay from time to time. Might require running a tool to remove the SFP+ vendor. It should also be noted that cross-flashing them to generic Intel firmware doesn't appear to be a thing. Thankfully Dell provides the firmware downloads on their website without a support contract though. :)

The Mellanox NICs might be easier to find though. :)
 
zer0sum

zer0sum

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The SuperMicro AOC-STGN-I2S is my go to card.

They have an Intel 82599 chipset, are tiny, use very little power, run cool and can be found for $15-30 on Ebay all day.

www.ebay.com

Supermicro AOCSTGNI2S 10 Port Gigabit Ethernet Adapter for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Supermicro AOCSTGNI2S 10 Port Gigabit Ethernet Adapter at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
 
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jei

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blunden said:
The Intel X710-DA2 might also be an option. The Dell OEM ones can be found in the $50-60 range on eBay from time to time. Might require running a tool to remove the SFP+ vendor. It should also be noted that cross-flashing them to generic Intel firmware doesn't appear to be a thing. Thankfully Dell provides the firmware downloads on their website without a support contract though. :)

The Mellanox NICs might be easier to find though. :)
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Seller accepted $75 yesterday and provided more pics of the bradyid codes which checked out. I guess it still can be copied/fake but I took a chance. (1 left as time of writing) X710-DA2 Genuine INTEL Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710DA2 Manu 10/2022 | eBay
 
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jei

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blunden said:
Nice! I haven't seen any "fake" X710-DA2 yet, only Intel ones and OEM models from Dell, Lenovo, etc. :)
Click to expand...
As I understand it, all should have YottaMark or BradyID and most sold on eBay don't. Doesn't mean they are fake, but I'm generally afraid of buying Intel. :D
 
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blunden

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jei said:
As I understand it, all should have YottaMark or BradyID and most sold on eBay don't. Doesn't mean they are fake, but I'm generally afraid of buying Intel. :D
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Only Intel's own cards have those stickers. OEM models are not shipped with those stickers as far as I know since they're really only meant to be sold in a server or directly from the OEM or a trusted distributor.

Most cards sold on eBay within a reasonable price range are OEM models pulled from servers, mostly from Dell. You can often tell from the heatsink, where the Intel branded cards always have a weird cutout while the OEM cards often don't.
 
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jei

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blunden

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jei said:
What would be the story here for example?

www.ebay.com

New Intel X710-DA2 10GB PCI 3.0 x8 Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710DA2BLK | eBay

Network type: 10Gb Fiber Ethernet. Bus Modes: PCI-E X8. Network Interface: SFP+ LC 2. Storage Over Ethernet iSCSI NFS. 1 x X710-DA2 Fiber Channel Ethernet Card. Virtual Machine Device Queues (VMDq) Yes.
www.ebay.com

Not OEM, X710DA2BLK is bulk packaging sold in retail outlets. No BradyID, weird cutout, etc.
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Interesting. I wouldn't trust that one, but I would certainly be interested in knowing more.

Could it be an OEM model where they changed the sticker? Yes.

Could it be a "fake" (i.e. their own "OEM" model based on chips from Intel but with their own PCB)? Also yes. Some of the previous "fake" cards that were tested by STH were originally manufactured by Linkreal and then resold by someone else with stickers removed/replaced. Something similar could be happening here.
 
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Tech Junky

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5mall5nail5 said:
Sorry - I said transcode, but I meant encode. I have many TBs of media I own and ripped native unencoded that I now want to go back and run through HEVC/265.
Click to expand...
If you don't have a GPU it's not going to be quick. I added an A380 and it cut the time to 1/8th and dropped the CPU to about 10% vs 75% on CPU only.
 
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